


No Cure for Stupid

by syrenpan



Series: No cure for stupid [1]
Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Fluff, M/M, New Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:53:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5315870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrenpan/pseuds/syrenpan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Very early) Christmas present for pollencount who asked me for "Anders hasn't celebrated Christmas (or whatever it's called in Thedas) since he was a little boy, Fenris doesn't care much about the holidays due to his own history, but he thinks of something nice for him."</p><p>So, I thought what would be the nicest thing Fenris could do for Anders, and this is the result. It starts a bit dark but then turns into a sappy cloud of rainbow coloured fluff, I promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Cure for Stupid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pollencount](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollencount/gifts).



> NB: I don't go with Christmas = Satinalia. 
> 
> I go with First Day:  
> "The traditional start of the year, this holiday involves visits to neighbors and family (in remote areas, this was once an annual check to ensure everyone was alive), as well as a town gathering to commemorate the year past, accompanied by drinking and merriment." (Excerpted from Dragon Age: The World of Thedas – Volume 1)

The young mage's name was Karen. She smiled at him nervously, showing her chipped front tooth as the boat rocked on the waves. 

'Almost there,' Anders reassured her, and she nodded in return. He was watching her carefully for any signs that panic would get the upper hand but she was holding together so far. She clearly took after her mother. 

Smuggling mages out of the Gallows always carried a great risk but getting an apprentice out before her Harrowing bordered on the stupid. Anders cursed his soft heart under his breath but he had had no choice, not really. 

'A child for a child!' Her mother had demanded, angry tears staining her cheeks, her body still showing signs of the child she had carried but been unable to keep. Sometimes even magic was not enough. But she blamed him nonetheless, and he had caved and promised he would get Karen out of the Circle she had been forced into not six months ago. 

The Gallows were cruel at any rate but for a refugee child coming into her magic, it had to be hell. The Circle always stressed that once you were in, your heritage didn't matter but Anders knew first hand that that was far from true. Maybe it made no difference to your jailers but it mattered a great deal to your fellow inmates. Oh yes, and they made you suffer for being ...”anders” - different, especially at the girl's age. 

Anders sighed and recalled the first time he had seen her. He remembered a freckled-faced man, clothes stained with soot, carrying a nine-year old girl with auburn pigtails and a bloodied face into the clinic during his first year in Kirkwall. 

'She fell on the stairs,' the man had explained nervously, clutching his hat as he watched Anders heal the broken nose and split lip. However, there was nothing he could do about the tooth, what was gone was gone. 

'All better now,' Anders smiled tiredly at Karen. 'There is a bucket with fresh water, here take this rag, it's clean, and wash your face while I talk to your dad, okay?' The girl had taken the cloth and done as she was told. 

When he was sure she was out of earshot, Anders had rounded on the man, barely containing the rage inside. 'Listen, and listen to me good. If you hurt her or any of your children or your wife for that matter one more time, you will not be needing a healer or even a gravedigger because there won't be enough left of you to bury. Have I made myself clear?' 

To his surprise the man burst into tears, clutching his hair and saying between sobs. 'Of course you think I did this. What am I? Another Ferelden rat what crawled of the boat, stealing jobs while doing nothing but begging for coins and spending it on whores and hooch. That's what I am, aren't I? Just some shit living in the gutter with too many mouths to feed. So when I gets home drunk and broke, I take it out on the wife and kids. Ain't that right?'

Anders was taken aback. He had expected defiance, anger even, not this. 'I know when a child has been beaten bloody as opposed to “falling on the stairs”. If it wasn't you, who did this to her?' 

'I don't know, she wouldn't say,' the man cried hopelessly. 'She ran into my arms when I came home from work at the foundry, shovelling coal. I asked and asked while I carried her here but all she said was, “I don't want to get you into no trouble, daddy,” and that was all I could get out of her.' 

Anders felt ashamed of himself. Eight months in Kirkwall and already he suspected the worst in anyone he met. There was something corrosive about his place that chipped your soul away.

'Can we go now, daddy?' Karen asked, suddenly popping up next to Anders' elbow. She was looking at her father with her pale green eyes as her dad blinked tears away. The man tried and failed to put on a brave face and nodded. 

'What's your name?' Anders asked as the pair made to leave. 

'Forney, Gethin Forney, this is my second eldest, Karen. We are form Greenhill in the Bannorn.' 

Anders took a step forward and held out his hand. 'For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Gethin, for what I said. It was unworthy of me.' 

Forney hesitated for a few seconds before he took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. Karen smiled at them both, showing off her chipped tooth. 

'Bring your family here whenever you need me, day or night.' Anders offered and he meant it. 

'Thank you, that's very kind. I will. Say, 'thank you,' Karen.' 

'Thank you.' And then they were out of the door. 

Anders would get to know all five members of the Forney clan over the next three years. They were one of many refugees who tried to adopt Anders into their family; but for good reasons, Anders had always kept them at arm's length. These people had been through enough. They didn't need the complication of a wanted abomination in their lives unless they needed healing, of course. 

That was all except for Marian Hawke. And while she had not exactly adopted him, she had this knack for drawing strange but steadfast companions to her side and she fought hard to keep them there whether they wanted it or not. 

But even Hawke had no notion of Anders' affiliation with the mage underground and the work they were doing, and he wanted to keep it that way. It was expensive and very dangerous. Not every mind could withstand the pressure of freedom, not when they had spent most of their lives in a prison. They yearned for something that they couldn't understand and the moment they got it, they faltered, failed and Anders had to fight at least half a dozen abominations over the past years because the mages had succumbed to their fears. 

Karen however had only been in the circle for half a year and during a time where strangely enough the Gallows had been the safest place in the city. Kirkwall was still feeling the aftershock of the Qunari uprising and Hawke was busy fighting off noble families trying to introduce eligible offspring to the newly crowned Champion of Kirkwall. Anders hadn't seen her since she had fought the Arishok. 

The boat thudded into the hidden landing stage in Darktown. The mage underground had fifteen different spots they used. Anders was one of three people who knew them all, everyone else knew maybe five or six in case they got captured. However, this spot was Anders secret alone or so he had thought. 

As soon as he and Karen had left the boat a figure stepped out of the shadows. Anders pushed the girl behind him as he drew his staff and fell into a defensive stance. 

'Get lost or get burned!' Anders threatened. 

'Really, that's your line?' Fenris drawled as he stepped forward until Anders could see the tell tale outline of his least favourite of Hawke's companions. 

'What do you want?' Anders asked, pointedly not changing his posture. 

Fenris seemed to fidget a little before he replied. 'Would you believe me if I said I was out for a stroll?'

'No.' 

'Mage, I'm not here to turn you in if that's what you're thinking,' Fenris said calmly.

'Anders,' Karen whispered nervously from behind, 'who is this?'

Anders sighed and put his staff away. He cast a quick look in Fenris' direction before he turned and bent down so he could be on eye-level with Karen who was small for a twelve year old. 

'He's...' he hesitated. How could he explain Fenris and their rather complicated relationship in a nutshell to her?

'My name is Fenris,' the elf introduced himself, saving Anders the trouble.

'I'm Karen Forney. How do you do?' 

To Anders' surprise, Fenris bowed stiffly and replied, 'How do you do?' 

'That was rather posh!' Anders exclaimed and wasn't sure whether he had said it in response to Karen or Fenris. 

The girl shrugged and said, 'First Enchanter Orsino gave me a long lecture about proper greetings when I first arrived at the Gallows.' 

'You were greeted by the First Enchanter?' Anders asked astonished.

'Yes, all the new students have to go see him in his office during their first week,' Karen explained.

'Yet more evidence how dreadful the Circle prisons are. Clothes, meals and lectures in magic and manners, how ever did you cope?' Fenris sneered.

'Is there a reason you are here other than to piss me off as usual?' Anders asked sourly. 

'I can see you skipped the lesson in manners,' Fenris said in an infuriatingly patronising tone. 

'Let's go, Karen.' Anders prompted and marched passed the warrior toward the maze of Darktown without even looking in the elf's direction. 

'Where are we going?' Karen asked anxiously. 

'I need to get you to my contact. They will get you to an Antivan merchant ship bound for Minrathous,' Anders explained.

'What? No, I don't want to go to Tevinter!' Karen cried. She had stopped walking and was pulling on Anders' sleeve. 

'I can't recommend it either,' Fenris offered. 

'Why are you following us? Don't you have anything better to do?' Anders asked irritated but spoke more softly when he addressed the girl. 'Karen, you can't stay here. The safest place for you is where magic is accepted and you will need proper training. The only place that can give you both is...'

'The Circle,' Fenris finished for him. 

'Fuck off!' Anders yelled at the warrior who did not seem perturbed by the outburst.

'Yes, shout louder, I don't think the Carta office on the other side of Darktown quite heard you yet. Oh my, two mages with a full coin purse heading for the docks. Sure, bring a lyrium addicted Templar and one or two slaver contacts, that's easy coin walking, that is.' 

'Andraste's flaming arse, why are you even here?' Anders got right into Fenris' face but still the elf seemed unimpressed. 

Instead of dealing with Anders, Fenris swiftly stepped around the blonde man and addressed the young mage. 'Karen, what is it you want?' 

'I... I want to go see my family,' the girl replied hesitantly. 

'I'm sorry, darling, but that's too dangerous. When the Templars come, and they will come, that's the first place they are going to go looking for you,' Anders explained patiently. 

'But it's New Day!' Karen burst out.

Anders briefly closed his eyes and cursed under his breath but before he could say anything, Fenris stepped in again.

'And after you see your family, what do you want to do?' Fenris asked calmly. 

'I need to learn. I want to learn to control my magic. I don't want to hurt anyone any more.'

'Hurt anyone? Who did you hurt?' 

Karen turned to Anders, pointed at her tooth and said, 'That day, the day you healed me. I... some bastard tried to take my coin from me when I had delivered the washing mother does for other people. And he shoved me hard, so I shoved back and then he smacked me into a wall. I saw stars and the next thing I remember is that he is solid cold like a statue. I grabbed the coin pouch out of his frozen fingers and ran.' 

'Why didn't your family come to me then? You know I would have helped sooner.' Anders asked as gently as possible.

'I didn't even know it was me who had done it. It wasn't until I accidentally froze the flowers in the market, you know, the day they took me that I put it all together really. I... I think I killed that man. I never saw him again. I did, didn't I?' Tears spilled out of her eyes now and Anders took her into his arms and rocked her gently as she sobbed into his chest. He murmured soothing words but glared at Fenris who met his stare with infuriating calm and a lot of 'I told you so' in his eyes. 

But to Anders' surprise, when Fenris spoke, he wasn't accusing the girl at all. 'I wouldn't lose sleep over a thug who steels from little girls. He had it coming. If you didn't kill him some other criminal will have finished the job, or maybe he got caught by the guards. Still, you are right, you need training and I maintain that the Circle is the best place,' however, before Anders could interject, Fenris continued, 'but you want to see your family as well, don't you?' 

Karen turned around and nodded, tears streaking her face. Fenris briefly looked into Anders eyes before he said, 'Come on, let's go find your people.'

The girl's eyes lit up. 'Really?'

'Fuck you, Fenris. What kind of sick game are you playing?' Anders hissed angrily, instinctively tightening his arms around the child. 

Fenris took a step forward until Anders could clearly see his face and said, 'It's New Day. The Templars won't come looking for her right now. We have some time. Let her have a meal with her parents and then she can decide what she wants to do with her life.' 

'You would send her back to that prison. You would have no qualms that this twelve year old girl will be locked up with the threat of Tranquillity over her head for the rest of her life, never seeing her family again. Being at the whim of these Templar bastards to do with her as they see fit. Her mother begged me to get her out and away from this life. She begged me and I will not disappoint her.' He didn't say “again” out loud but Fenris seemed to have heard it anyway.

'Why not exceed her expectations instead. Come now, if we keep arguing, we really won't have time.' 

Anders furrowed his brow. None of this made any sense to him, for all he knew the mage hating elf might lead them right into a trap. He looked down and into the pale green eyes of the young girl. 'Is that what you want?' 

Karen nodded and stepped out of his embrace. 'I want to see my parents, please.' 

'Follow me,' Fenris said and walked ahead, Karen and a very reluctant Anders in tow.

They were navigating the maze of Darktown with ease, avoiding known gang hangouts and dead ends. Anders fully expected a whole gaggle of Templars around every corner but kept getting disappointed as they moved on. However, when Fenris made straight for the docks Anders called, 'Hold it. Where are you taking us?' 

'Dockside,' Fenris replied. 

'I know! Her parents live in Lowtown now. If you...'

'Keep your idle threats to yourself. Don't you think you would be in the Gallows by now if I had wanted to hand you over to the Templars?' 

'Oh, I don't know maybe it's a perverse power-play fetish of yours, leading me around like a puppy on a leash before you lead me into a trap.' 

Fenris took a few steps toward the mage and got into his personal space before he said, 'In case you hadn't noticed, this isn't about you.' 

But Anders was too much on edge to be shut down. 'Isn't it?' 

Fenris face took on a queer expression; his eyes lost focus and his mouth contorted into something that looked suspiciously like a gasp before the elf seemed to catch himself and worried his lower lip. But before Anders could comment, Fenris turned and said, 'We should move on.'

Anders blinked and shook his head as if he was trying to shake off a dream. 'What was that?' He wondered quietly as they continued on their way. 

'Up here,' Fenris said and pointed to a steep ladder that led to a trapdoor. 

'Oh no, beauty before age, I insist,' Anders said, pointedly looking at the warrior which resulted in first Fenris and, after she cottoned on, Karen taking up positions on either side of the ladder and pointing at it with slightly bent backs. 

Anders blushed and said, 'Oh, ha ha! I expect such behaviour from him but I had thought you had better manners, Karen.' 

'Yes, the First Enchanter said the same thing.' 

'Whatever, I am not going through first if...' But before Anders could finish his sentence, the trapdoor opened and the worried face of Gethin Forney appeared. 

'Karen?' 

'Daddy!' The girl shouted happily and climbed up the ladder and into the waiting arms of her family.

Fenris was about to follow her upstairs when he caught the mage looking at him. The warrior smirked and said, 'I told you, it's New Day.' 

'Who are you and what have you done with Fenris?' Anders asked which only made the elf grin wider before he climbed into the light.

They all sat on crates, eating Ferelden stew that Maire, Karen's mother, had made and brought together with bowls and spoons. Fenris and Anders had taken up position a bit further back from the family to give them some semblance of privacy. 

They were half-way through their bowls when Anders couldn't take it any more and had to ask, 'Why are you doing this?' 

Fenris seemed to find his food amazingly interesting because he stared at it with great intensity until Anders prompted, 'Well?' 

The warrior looked up at him then with an unreadable expression. He opened his mouth but at that moment the door to the warehouse opened and a Templar in full armour stepped inside.

'It's all right,' Fenris said swiftly and went to greet the man.

'Carver?' Anders was perplexed to say the least. The sourly brother of Marian Hawke was not known for doing anyone any favours but he seemed to be happy to see Fenris that much was certain. 

'Here,' Carver said, handing a scroll to Fenris, and waved awkwardly back at Karen who seemed to be caught between girlish enthusiasm and an intense attack of shyness. 'You owe me for this.' 

'I do,' Fenris admitted. 'Thank you, I really appreciate it. Are you going to be at your sister's later?' 

Carver scoffed and rolled his eyes. 'As if! I will happily skip an afternoon of Tales of the Champion. Bad enough that I had to invoke her name to get this done. You still have to get her out quietly before the Knight-Commander notices. Maker, a lot of people could lose their head over this. Have I mentioned yet that you owe me a big favour?' 

'I'll make it up to you,' Fenris said sincerely and patted Carver on the arm. 

The Templar murmured something that Anders didn't catch before he waved one last time at Karen and then swiftly turned and marched out of the door. His armour clanked with every step. 

Anders raised an eye-brow when Fenris went to Karen and handed her the scroll. 

'What's this? Is it from Carver?' She asked, blushing furiously. 

'Not exactly, no. Those are your official transfer papers to Dairsmuid, signed by First Enchanter Orsino.' 

'What?' Karen and Anders exclaimed at the same time. 

'The Circle in Rivain permits family visits and I have it on good authority that it's an altogether more relaxed environment. There is Templar oversight but on the whole you will get training and you can live with your family.'

'Are you serious?' Karen asked, positively glowing. 'Did you hear that? Oh, but what...'

Gethin and Maire reached behind their crates to hold up fully packed bundles. 'All packed, sweetheart, and ready to go,' her mother said happily. 

'You are coming with?' Karen screamed, bursting with excitement.

'We all are,' her dad said with moist eyes. 'We have made a life here once, we can do it again in Rivain. What's important is that we are together.' 

'This,' Fenris said as he dropped a fat coin purse that looked suspiciously like the one Anders had planned on handing to the Antivan captain to buy safe passage to Minrathous into Gethin's hand, 'will help to get a good head start.' 

''This is too much, I can't...,' but Fenris waved at Forney to just take it and not to speak of it again. 

'Thank you, thank you so much!' Karen had jumped and was now clinging to Fenris as if her life dependent on it. Not knowing what to do about her, the elf just let it happen and waited until she let him go again with a nervous chuckle.

Anders pinched himself to make sure he hadn’t fallen asleep on his crate and was now in some rich food induced alternative reality dream. But it seemed that Fenris, the mage hating elf from Tevinter, had just organised a semi-legal resettlement for a whole Ferelden family and all to make sure that a young mage would have a better start in life than she surely would have had here.

'If you want to catch your ship, we need to make a move now,' the warrior said, still a little flustered form the hug.

While the family gathered their belongings, Anders sidled up to Fenris and asked, 'What just happened? Because last time I checked you were in favour of leashing mages and now you are suddenly some sort of mage saving vigilante? I don't get it.' 

'It appears the company I keep has started to rub off on me,' Fenris said quietly without looking at Anders. 

After a brief moment, Anders replied, 'I am not an idiot, you are referring to Hawke of course, aren't you?' 

Fenris did smile then and looked at him. 'I admit she has opened my eyes to see a lot of things in a different light.' 

'Yes, she does that,' Anders agreed. 'So, you are doing this really for her, is that it?' 

Fenris snorted, 'She is most likely going to get pissed at me when she finds out that I have conspired with her brother and used her name to get a favour out of the First Enchanter.'

'Hawke has no idea?' Anders asked surprised. 

'No, and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible.'

'Then why are you...'

But before Anders could ask, the Forneys were ready to go and sail into the sunrise and toward a new life. 

Fenris and Anders stood and watched until the ship was a tiny fleck on the horizon. Despite the holiday, the docks were getting busy now which interrupted their strange but not uncomfortable silence that they had spent together just watching Karen's family leave. 

'I need to get some sleep,' Anders said tiredly and rubbed his eyes as he turned to take the way through Lowtown back to the clinic. Fenris fell in step next to him. 

'Are you going to be at Hawke's later?' 

'The party? Nah. I don't care about the holiday. It's a family thing and I... but, ah, here I go again complaining about my lot as a mage.' But for once, Fenris did not rise to the bait which reminded Anders that the elf had not only lost his family but had no idea whether they even existed. 

To overcome the awkward moment he explained, 'For me, New Day is when people get drunk which means they get stupid which means that sooner or later they need a healer to repair some of the damage. It's going to be a long day.' Anders sighed. 

'You can cure stupid?' Fenris quipped.

'Maker, don't I wish. I would start with myself.' 

'At least you are honest about it.' They both chuckled. 

It had been a strange night. Anders had so many questions. How had Fenris known about Karen? How had he known about the when and where? And most importantly, why? Just why? 

He stopped at the top of the stairs that led to Lowtown and turned to face the elf. The sunrise reflected in interesting ways on Fenris' skin and white hair. If he weren't such a grumpy sod, he would be downright gorgeous. 

'I don't really care any more about the how but why did you help Karen?' 

Fenris took a deep breath and looked at his toes when he said, 'I didn't do it for her or Hawke if that's what you are still thinking.' 

'Have you had a change of heart about mages? Although don't think I didn't notice that you still favour keeping mages in Circles.' 

Fenris looked up at him then. 'She wanted to stay, she wanted training. Did you even ask her what she wanted before you busted her out?' 

Anders huffed. 'She would have gotten that in Tevinter,' but before Fenris could interject, Anders continued, 'but I admit your solution was more elegant and clearly made everyone happier. Maker, are you going to be my competition now?'

'I had not planned on making it a habit, no.'

'You still haven't answered my question.' 

The elf broke eye-contact again when he said, 'I wanted to show you that there can be a compromise between two extremes. I know you would never believe me so I had to prove it to you.' 

'Prove to me? Me?' A strange feeling spread in Anders' gut. 

'To answer your question, no, I haven't changed my heart about mages. Only one of them.' 

'Are you talking about Hawke?' Anders had a notion that he already knew the answer but his brain had trouble believing it. 

Fenris looked him in the eyes and answered, 'No.'

Anders would be the first to admit that he had not seen this coming. He wasn't sure how he felt about it either and said something to that effect, although it sounded like garbled nonsense to him when he said it out loud. 

Fenris nodded and looked at his toes again. Eventually, he asked, 'Are you sure you don't want to come to Hawke's? There is free food.' 

'Maker, you do move fast. One minute you confess you have feelings for me and the next you are trying to sweet talk me into a date with the promise of free food,' Anders said in mock exasperation which made Fenris blush. 

'Hey, 'Anders said gently, 'I'm not making fun of you. Fenris, will you please look at me. It's just that I really hadn't expected this and certainly not from you, especially you, because you know pretty much everything there is to know about me, and until tonight I would have sworn that you hate my very guts.'

'I'm aware of that,' Fenris sighed, 'are you sure you can't cure stupid?' 

Anders laughed. 'Oh Maker, I'm glad I can't or we wouldn't be having this conversation.' 

The words had just come out of his mouth but they were true nonetheless. They certainly made Fenris smile which was something Anders thought he could get used to. 

'So, are you going to join us?' 

Anders closed his eyes and cursed. 'I really can't. There will be a queue at the clinic, believe me. And despite everything, it's a day you should spend with people you care about.' Anders could already see Fenris' face falling when he quickly added, 'So, why don't you stop by the clinic later, maybe bring some of the food, and we talk?' 

He must have said the right thing because Fenris smiled again and said, 'Yes, I can do that.' 

The End


End file.
